


Twin Flames

by annabeth



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Yuri Plisetsky, M/M, Soulmate AU, a smidge of angst, otayuri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 00:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14092749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabeth/pseuds/annabeth
Summary: This is theorigin of lovefor Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek Altin. Soulmate au.





	Twin Flames

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blownwish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blownwish/gifts), [shadesofhades](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadesofhades/gifts).



> This was originally gonna be a zine app, but there were ~complications~ and I decided to just post it instead (with some cheerleading for that option by [Shades of Hades](http://archiveofourown.org/users/shadesofhades) and [Blownwish](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Blownwish)). Betaing provided by Blownwish and Shades of Hades as well; thank you guys so much!
> 
> I got the kernel of the idea from the song "Origin of Love" from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack, but it's based on mythology by Plato as well.

The only useful thing Yuri Plisetsky's mother ever gave him was actually a birthday gift when he was five years old, just before she decided that a child was too much of an anchor causing her to drown—just before she left him with his grandpa and never returned. A gift, and a bit of knowledge that _felt_ useless at the time… 

"This is for you," she said, and she handed Yuri a small crystal; it was shaped like half a sphere with a jagged edge on the flatter half. "When you turn eighteen," she explained, "you will find yourself soul-searching. This will glow when you're near a particular person—it will match up exactly to theirs, fuse together, and you'll know who you're meant to be with."

This made little sense to a five-year-old, but Yuri's mother said, when he asked, _why_ ,

"It's tradition that it's given to the child on his fifth birthday." Then she went back to drinking her vodka in her cheap housedress, her slippers almost worn through on the bottoms, and Yuri clutched at the chain, holding it to his chest; it was the first and only birthday gift he'd ever gotten from his mother.

The next day she dropped him off at his grandpa's with a stern,

"You behave, and I'll be back for you," but she didn't come back, and for years Yuri thought it was _his_ fault, that he hadn't behaved enough.

His grandpa, though, told him a story that day, as they waited for his mother. And it was a story Yuri never forgot.

:::

Otabek is the coolest guy Yuri has ever met, and his heartbeat kicks up whenever they're together. It's the night before Yuri's eighteenth birthday, and he's drinking beer and lying on the roof of his freshly rented apartment with Otabek by his side. He probably has until midnight before Otabek gets up to leave.

"So, Yura, what do you want for your birthday?" Otabek asks. He reaches over and finds Yuri's hand; when they touch, when their fingers entangle, it feels incredibly hot, like someone just poured near-scalding coffee on his hand. _Odd_ , Yuri thinks, _it's never felt like that before._

"The other half to this stupid thing," Yuri says, lifting the crystal sphere out of his shirt and holding it up. It glimmers in the moonlight, but it doesn't glow. He thinks he can sense Otabek smile.

"It's just a myth, Yura," he says, "or at least, it must be, because the only thing that happened when I turned eighteen is I met you."

This would sound like sappy romantic rhetoric if not for the person speaking; as it is _Otabek_ speaking, it just sounds ridiculously cool. Yuri sighs and drops the necklace.

"My grandpa said it's real." Yuri grabs the bottle of beer, sits up a little, and sucks at it till he's got a full mouthful. He swallows it down and continues, "Have you heard the story?"

"No," Otabek says. "I got the necklace—" he laughs deprecatingly "—but my parents didn't subscribe to the soulmate myth. I know only that everyone is supposed to have a perfect other half. Since my crystal never glowed, I've come to the conclusion it's not for everyone."

Yuri wants to ask why his parents didn't tell him the story, but he also wants to impart it himself, as if having the knowledge will make him seem more worldly to Otabek. He may be turning eighteen, but he's always felt like Otabek is a few steps ahead and he's always running to catch up.

He even dreams about it: bolts of lightning and running, running to catch up to that shadowy figure whose face he can't see. When he wakes up, the face that immediately comes to mind is Otabek's.

But while Otabek is cooler than anything, Yuri knows that he's probably right. Katsudon and the old man may think they're soulmates, but look how old Katsudon and Viktor were before they met. It's not real—but it's a beautiful dream.

But all these years on and he still just wants Otabek to _like him_. Best friends, and the only friend Yuri has ever had. Is it so much to ask that Otabek feel the same way about him?

But Yuri knows Otabek has other friends, probably _better_ friends, and so he flops back down to the roof.

"My grandpa said there were three genders back when it all began. The _origin of love_. He said that people had four arms, and four legs, and two faces; that when they became too cocky, Zeus split them apart with lightning and blew a wind that scattered them across the earth." Yuri knows his dreams are partially the fault of his grandpa's archaic old tale. But his grandpa was the only person who ever loved him, so he doesn't mind the dreams, even if they _are_ frustrating. "And so people spend their whole lives searching for the part of themselves that was cut away from them."

"Pretty gruesome," Otabek comments; he squeezes Yuri's hand and Yuri's belly button feels like someone's tugging on it.

"Then, because humans were too despondent to pay tribute to the gods anymore, Apollo sewed them up, leaving behind the knot at their navel." Yuri rolls onto his side to face Otabek; his necklace clinks against the roof. It still doesn't glow, no matter how much he wants it to.

"So it's like I said—a myth." Otabek is definitely smiling though. "I'd like it to be true. I have someone I want to be with, and I want to be with them forever. I dream of them sometimes. Every night, actually."

Yuri's heart plummets; he's been crushing on Otabek for years. But he knows what the dreams _mean_. Of course Otabek has a lover. He's older than Yuri; he's _wiser_ than Yuri.

Yuri's watch chimes. "It's almost midnight. I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin."

"You're too beautiful to be a pumpkin," Otabek says, "but I do have to go. You don't want anything for your birthday?"

"Nah." He's never been big on presents because he never got any as a kid. Otabek gets to his feet. Their hands remain clasped for a moment, and then Otabek lets go, and Yuri feels strangely bereft.

"I'll see you tomorrow at practice," Otabek says. He leaves Yuri on the roof, finishing the rest of Otabek's beer as if putting his lips on the mouth of the bottle could be like a kiss.

"Children of the sun," Yuri murmurs, before he climbs down onto the fire escape and back into his bedroom. There's a clink as his foot hits something, but he's feeling slightly drunk and drowsy, so he ignores it and collapses facedown onto his bed. 

He's asleep before midnight rolls around, and he's having the dream again: running, running _from_ the lightning bolt this time.

:::

When Yuri wakes up, he doesn't _feel_ any different. The only thing he's sure of is that he's gay. He suspected it before, but in the dream from the previous night, the sun had been beaming down on him while he looked up through a reddish haze—at a face he recognized, though he can't remember it upon waking.

It's weird not to sit down to breakfast with Lilia. It's weird to get to practice and have Yakov and Lilia both _smile_ at him, as if they, too, subscribe to the myth.

Yuri gets to the rink, goes through his routine and, because otherwise he'd flub every jump, ignores Otabek. It isn't until he's skating off, pulling on his skate guards, that Otabek catches up to him.

"Let's go to dinner," he says. "For your birthday."

For a second Yuri thinks he means as a date, but of course that's not the case. He forces a smile even though he kind of wants to cry; Otabek is his romantic dream, but he knows he can't have it—a crush is just a crush until you meet your true half, his grandpa has told him many times.

He has to _wait_ , wait for that stupid crystal to glow, for his hands to feel warm against that person's heart. Yuri has only ever _wished_ it could be Otabek; but if it was, why didn't Otabek feel the signs when _he_ turned eighteen? When they first met, even if Otabek had seen him all those years ago in Yakov's ballet class?

Yuri doesn't remember much from that summer camp, just idyllic gorgeous days and that strange tug he sometimes feels in his belly, like a hook has gone in and someone is pulling on it.

It's all so muddled; how the hell does it even _work_? No one has ever told him that, only signs to look for: the glow, the dreams, the kiss of heat.

"I don't think I want to go to dinner," Yuri says, turning away. He doesn't want Otabek to know that he's longing for that soulmate myth to be true. To know for certain that there is someone out there for him, someone who will someday make Yuri forget all about Otabek, who obviously loves someone else. Why shouldn't he? Yuri's worthless; the only thing he's good at is skating and he hasn't won a gold medal in over a year.

He slams his locker as he finishes changing, and he makes his way back to his shiny new apartment alone.

:::

In the end, it's fate that brings them together. Yuri walks into his bedroom and yanks at his shirt angrily; the chain on his necklace snaps and it falls to the floor, rolling a little until it suddenly stops and there is a brilliant glow, like that of morning sunlight, filling the room. Dust motes sparkle in the golden light.

Yuri drops to his knees. The crystal has fused with—but the only other person who's been to his apartment yet has been _Otabek_. The tug in his belly intensifies and Yuri realizes it's not the stomachache he thought it was, but a distinct and urgent throbbing in his navel. He's fumbling for his phone even as it starts ringing.

"Beka," he gasps, holding onto his chest, "did you—did you leave—"

"I broke my necklace," Otabek says, and Yuri begins to laugh, near-hysterically.

"Come over, come over, it's _you_ ," is all Yuri can say.

"No _wonder_ I've been seeing you in my dreams for three years," Otabek says, before Yuri's hanging up, dropping backwards onto the floor. The golden light gradually fades. When Otabek enters, though, using the key Yuri gave him, it's like Otabek is lighting up not only the room, but Yuri's life. Yuri can't get up. He can't get up, but it's okay, because Otabek lifts him into his arms and places him on the bed.

And Otabek's heart feels warm under Yuri's hand, and his kiss feels scorching, and his navel stops throbbing. When they finally join their bodies together, Yuri feels suddenly, achingly complete.

"I love you," he says, crying. Otabek kisses away the tears.

"I didn't believe," he says, "but I wanted it to be you, Yura. I wanted to love you for so long." Otabek kisses his mouth lingeringly. "I guess I did meet my soulmate when I turned eighteen. I just had to wait for awhile to find out."

And as Yuri reaches the pinnacle of love and passion, they both laugh.

END.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [Tumblr](http://helm-puppet-trash.tumblr.com)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Twin Flames](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062279) by [AshiiPods (ashiiblack)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashiiblack/pseuds/AshiiPods)




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